Jack Woodruff, a former Citadel equities trader who launched Candlestick Capital in 2019, is shutting down the $2.1bn hedge fund after performance failed to meet his “extremely high standards,” according to a report by Bloomberg.

The reports cites an investor letter as confirming the decision tp cease trading and return investor capital.

Candlestick is down ~7% YTD through October, following a 28% gain in 2024. The fund’s track record includes strong early returns — 36.5% in 2020 and 14.9% in 2021 — but deeper losses in 2022 and muted performance more recently. The firm expects to return most investor capital by year-end.

The closure highlights the increasingly challenging environment for single-manager equity hedge funds as mega multi-strategy platforms dominate flows and talent. More than 2,800 hedge funds have closed since 2020 amid this structural shift.